The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Tennessee Firefighters Let Home Burn Over Subscription Issue
JASON HIBBS
WPSD
Reprinted with Permission
OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.
Related
- WPSD: Firefighters Watch as Home Burns to the Ground
- WPSD: More Fallout Following House Fire
- USAToday: Firefighters watch house burn because owner hadn't paid $...
- MSNBC: No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn
FireEMSBlogs.com Updates
A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.
The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.
Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.
The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.
This fire went on for hours because garden hoses just wouldn't put it out. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond.
Turns out, the neighbor had paid the fee.
"I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick.
Because of that, not much is left of Cranick's house.
They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come.
The Cranicks told 9-1-1 they would pay firefighters, whatever the cost, to stop the fire before it spread to their house.
"When I called I told them that. My grandson had already called there and he thought that when I got here I could get something done, I couldn't," Paulette Cranick.
It was only when a neighbor's field caught fire, a neighbor who had paid the county fire service fee, that the department responded. Gene Cranick asked the fire chief to make an exception and save his home, the chief wouldn't.
We asked him why.
He wouldn't talk to us and called police to have us escorted off the property. Police never came but firefighters quickly left the scene. Meanwhile, the Cranick home continued to burn.
We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception.
"Anybody that's not in the city of South Fulton, it's a service we offer, either they accept it or they don't," Mayor David Crocker said.
Friends and neighbors said it's a cruel and dangerous city policy but the Cranicks don't blame the firefighters themselves. They blame the people in charge.
"They're doing their job," Paulette Cranick said of the firefighters. "They're doing what they are told to do. It's not their fault."
To give you an idea of just how intense the feelings got in this situation, soon after the fire department returned to the station, the Obion County Sheriff's Department said someone went there and assaulted one of the firefighters.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
-
Mike, the homeowner was playing the fire department for chumps. We willingly will risk a little for property and a lot for life, and all we ask is the resources to make it happen. The homeowner felt that the people, equipment, training, insurance, support, etc would all happen for free or that someone else would foot the bill for his choices.
Sorry. With responsibility comes consequences.
-
Permalink Reply by Eric Henderson on
-
How else would you do it? The fact is the fire trucks and the turnout gear and the SCBA and the hoses and the water and the stations and the saws and the pike poles and the handlights and the radios and everything else that the fire department uses all need to be paid for somehow. We can't just invent a magical fire department that works for free. If you want fire protection, you have to pay for it somehow. Whether it's a mandatory tax that covers everyone or a subscription service that covers those who pay, it HAS TO BE PAID FOR.
-
-
Be nice, Jack. Don't let his moral superiority corrupt your cool :-P
-
Permalink Reply by Herb Genelly III on
-
If we stick to "The Facts", riddle me this Batman; Why has the department made exceptions before, allowing a Homeowner to pay AFTER their services? But they wouldn't let this guy?
.
-
-
This is why we're trying to get Mexico to take Texas back.
-
-
Answer me this: Why has South Fulton made exceptions before, and allowed non-paid homeowners to pay after the fire was put out? Now why didn't they make an exception in this case? Wouldn't that constitute an exception, contractually speaking, leaving the impression to other homeowners that they would be able to pay if they needed the service? Just sayin'.
-
-
Fact Check: The department has allowed homeowners in the past to pay AFTER they received services. Also, in YOUR city, do you keep a record of Tax Scofflaws, so you don't extinguish a fire on a home that's not had taxes kept up to date...LOL
-
-
You're wrong big shooter. The FD responded when the neighbors field caught fire. The neighbor didn't want them to waste time on a freshly harvest corn field, and said he would use his disc to make a fire break, He asked them (FD) to put out the house fire....the fire shooting off embers....causing spot fires...LOL
-
-
So you know, you're right. The fact is that this fire department had made exceptions in the past, allowing a homeowner to pay after they put out the fire. But a new fire chief decided he was also the new sheriff in town...lol
-
-
Ummm........did ya know that others gambled in the past in that friendly little area of TN, and were ALLOWED to pay afterwards, and the residents KNEW that? Or are you ignorant of those facts? What's the REAL problem now? The fact that the Fire Chief can make the call based on how he feels............LOL
-
-
Herb, would you apply the same math to someone who refused to pay for health insurance, than offered to buy it after they found out they were sick?
The community wanted low taxes. They have an opt in system if you choose to pay for fire department service. This guy made a choice.
-
-
Ummm....yeah........Its called Pre-Existing Conditions. Folks were denied insurance, but not anymore due to Federal Health Legislation. You still didn't answer my question though. The department had made exceptions before, and allowed folks to pay later. Why not THIS guy?
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
